It’s 1966. Mini-skirts are in. Beatlemania is in full swing. And Angie Finley is starting high school with frosted hair and contacts, ready to find a boyfriend. But her dad’s in Vietnam as young men burn their draft cards. School integration turns ugly as a black classmate is bullied. Her mom pushes her to be a cheerleader while women demand to be taken seriously. And a pushy antiwar activist in … in her class is driving her crazy.But a handsome quarterback thinks her new look is perfect. And he wants to do a lot more than just make out.Set against a backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, A Daffodil for Angie is a vivid coming of age story about a teenager grappling with what kind of person she wants to be. Should she trust the adults who sent her father to Vietnam? Should she try to do something about attacks on the first black student in her class? Should she let her sexy boyfriend score a touchdown?The 1960s comes alive as Angie tries to make sense of the social upheaval around her, while struggling to keep a lid on her raging hormones.
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‘A Daffodil For Angie’ drops the reader right into the social upheaval of the 1960s, in which Angie must try to make sense of her life. Against the backdrop of feminism, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and integration of negro students into schools, the Vietnam War, and the craze for British fashion and music, Lacy has woven a story that fits right into the world of ‘Mississippi Burning’ and ‘To Sir With Love’, and yet she makes it intimately personal.
As the reader sees things from Angie’s point of view, the reader is confronted with the same questions that Angie struggles to answer: What sort of person am I? How do I respond to behaviour that is unacceptable? How do I stand up for what’s right when I have to go against the majority of people to do that? Am I more than the sum of my clothes, makeup and behaviour?
Angie speaks to the person inside each one of us who remembers being bullied or singled out, who has been unfairly compared to a sibling or a friend, or who is no longer prepared to tolerate abusive behaviour even though others seem blind to it. As she grapples with these questions, our own convictions and social consciences are challenged and solidified – because as much as we don’t like to admit it fifty years later, our society is still focused on appearances, sexism and sexual predation are still very real, and many people still discriminate against others on the basis of skin colour. People are still hateful, and both racism and sexism are still very real to us.
Yet as much as this is social commentary, it is also a very personal and emotive story of one young woman’s search for meaning in her life, and of her finding her own identity in the process. The use of songs and records to pinpoint moments in her journey lends another dimension to the setting, but more importantly to Angie’s growth as an independent and self-aware individual, willing to stand for what she believes in and against what she understands to be wrong.
This is a brilliant read, evocatively and honestly written.
I loved everything about this novel. The author’s strong characterization of a realistic teen of the sixties developing her adult beliefs, is expertly told – flaws and all by a child maturing in the mid-sixties. Angie, like most young adults her age is shallow and popularity is everything but as she matures through the book, she faces situations that she finds uncomfortable and eventually tries to change. I love that this character is realistic, she makes mistakes, her views are well meaning but sometimes flawed and inconsistent. She IS a teenager battling over what it means to give up her popularity in order to support something better. The story deals with some controversial subjects – the Vietnam war, rising feminism, racism, and homosexuality – all in an era were beliefs are rapidly developing and change to the status quo is a fledgling concept. The author does this with an honest warts and all approach and had produced a riveting read. This is probably one of the best YA romance books I have read. Ever. The tone of this novel is perfectly crafted to the time and place of the setting- even down to the fact that I felt forced to read it in a southern accent! (and I’m British!) Thoroughly recommend.